[Tex/LaTex] Add current section to beamer headline

beamerheader-footerthemes

I am currently using the standard Pittsburgh theme for my presentation in LaTeX beamer. Is there a way to include the current section into the headline of my slides?

Best Answer

This snippet of code will do the job.

\documentclass [hyperref={pdfpagelabels=false},xcolor={table,pdftex}]{beamer}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usetheme{Pittsburgh}
\usecolortheme{beaver}
\usefonttheme{structuresmallcapsserif}
\usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif}
\setbeamertemplate{blocks}[rounded][shadow=true]
\setbeamercolor{block title}{fg=darkred,bg=gray!10!white}
\setbeamertemplate{frametitle}{\begin{beamercolorbox}%
    [sep=0.3cm,wd=\paperwidth]%   
    {frametitle}%
    \vbox{}\vskip-1ex
    \leavevmode{%
   \usebeamerfont{fametitle}%
    \begin{footnotesize}
    \insertsection
    \end{footnotesize}\hfill\insertframetitle\par}
  \end{beamercolorbox}
  }


\begin{document}
\section{Testsection}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Test}
Test
\end{frame}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] beamer: Create own headline theme

You can redefine the headline, footline and frametitle templates; something along these lines:

\documentclass{beamer}

\definecolor{secinhead}{RGB}{249,196,95}
\definecolor{titlebg}{RGB}{51,51,51}

\setbeamercolor{secsubsec}{fg=secinhead,bg=black}
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=secinhead,bg=titlebg}

\setbeamertemplate{headline}
{
  \leavevmode%
  \hbox{%
  \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\paperwidth,ht=8.25ex,dp=3.5ex]{secsubsec}%
    \raggedright
    \hspace*{2em}%
    {\sffamily\Large\color{secinhead}\thesection.~\insertsection\hfill\insertsubsection}%
    \hspace*{2em}%
  \end{beamercolorbox}%
  }%
}
\setbeamertemplate{frametitle}
{\vskip-3pt
  \leavevmode
  \hbox{%
  \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\paperwidth,ht=1.8ex,dp=1ex]{frametitle}%
    \raggedright\hspace*{2em}\small\insertframetitle
  \end{beamercolorbox}
  }%
}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\subsection{The questions}
\begin{frame}\frametitle{A test frame}Test\end{frame}
\subsection{Another questions}
\begin{frame}\frametitle{Another test frame}Test\end{frame}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Note however that probably you will have to redefine also some other templates to mantain consistency; for example, which color/font to use to display the frame title? which color for enumerated lists?

Another option, this time the frametitle will have to be given another definition:

\documentclass{beamer}

\definecolor{secinhead}{RGB}{249,196,95}
\definecolor{shadowbg}{RGB}{51,51,51}

\setbeamercolor{secsubsec}{fg=secinhead,bg=black}
\setbeamercolor{shadow}{fg=secinhead,bg=shadowbg}

\setbeamertemplate{headline}
{
  \leavevmode%
  \hbox{%
  \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\paperwidth,ht=8.25ex,dp=3.5ex]{secsubsec}%
    \raggedright
    \hspace*{2em}%
    {\sffamily\Large\color{secinhead}\thesection.~\insertsection\hfill\insertsubsection}%
    \hspace*{2em}%
  \end{beamercolorbox}%
  }\vskip0pt%
  \hbox{%
  \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\paperwidth,ht=1.8ex,dp=1ex]{shadow}%
  \mbox{}
  \end{beamercolorbox}
  }%
}
\setbeamertemplate{frametitle}{}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\subsection{The questions}
\begin{frame}Test\end{frame}
\subsection{Another questions}
\begin{frame}Test\end{frame}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Here's the code producing the vertical shading color for the second vertical "bar":

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shadings}
\definecolor{secinhead}{RGB}{249,196,95}
\definecolor{shadowbg}{RGB}{51,51,51}

\setbeamercolor{secsubsec}{fg=secinhead,bg=black}
\setbeamercolor{shadow}{fg=secinhead,bg=shadowbg}

\setbeamertemplate{headline}
{
  \leavevmode%
  \hbox{%
  \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=\paperwidth,ht=8.25ex,dp=3.5ex]{secsubsec}%
    \raggedright
    \hspace*{2em}%
    {\sffamily\Large\color{secinhead}\thesection.~\insertsection\hfill\insertsubsection}%
    \hspace*{2em}%
  \end{beamercolorbox}%
  }\vskip-1pt%
  \hbox{%
  \tikz\draw[draw=none,top color=black,bottom color=shadowbg!60] (0,0) rectangle (\paperwidth,0.5);
  }%
}
\setbeamertemplate{frametitle}{}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\subsection{The questions}
\begin{frame}
Test
\end{frame}

\end{document}

and here's the upper part of the resulting frame:

enter image description here

Of course, change the values for top color, and bottom color according to your needs (you can even select a middle color value).

[Tex/LaTex] Beamer: Short section titles in Headline

Your outer theme should use \insertsectionhead instead of \insertsection:

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}

\section[Short section 1 title]{Long section 1 title}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{F1}
  Long title: \insertsection

  Short title: \insertsectionhead
\end{frame}

\section[Short section 2 title]{Long section 2 title}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{F2}
  Long title: \insertsection

  Short title: \insertsectionhead
\end{frame}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] beamer: Create own headline theme

[Tex/LaTex] Beamer: Short section titles in Headline

Related Question